[quote=DeHe]
The other end of it is that the "99" kids may actually be 95 kids who were prepped. Heck, they may be less able than the 90 kids who were not prepped and who come from disadvantaged backgrounds for all we know. Test prep, as a whole, just totally changes the ballgame. We see some of that where I live just thankfully not the extent that is going on in NYC. Even the little bit we have here has messed with the GT id process and the GT programming as well, IMHO.
I guess that scenario happens although truthfully I don't get why. If you do a workbook with a kid and they can do it, doesn't that mean they can do that kind of work? Why is it prepping as opposed to learning? A kid who is not ready to read is not going to because you keep trying to teach him. Showing a kid a rhombus because it might show up on the test, they still have to remember what it was. This isn't an iq - it's whether they are ready to sit and learn. And they do a lot of that. I think all these test preppers really do their kids a disservice if the kids really can't do this kind of accelerated learning. Its a lot of pressure on the kid and also on the parents. I always wonder if the test preppers are the ones who complain about homework or are the ones who want more. The better argument is about exposure, the same case is being made right now at the other end of learning in NYC - not enough people of color at the high school exam schools. There you see certain cohorts either via money or culture prepping like crazy and other cohorts not and not being exposed to the type of material on the tests. One way testing has helped is that taking state tests at 3rd, 4th and 5th grade prior to the sshat test identifies student who should be encouraged to take it but also where schools need to improve - assuming the goal is more diversity in the exam schools - but the question is whether that happens.
But there are always going to be people unhappy because a cut off has to be provided. They just need to make that cut off more legitimate. And they need to serve this population of learners better.
DeHe
